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Monday, June 1, 2015

Tracking Story Threads by Annette M. Irby

printed manuscript with pen and pencil

Recently I printed off 280+ pages of my nearly-complete manuscript.
I wanted to get an idea of the story’s flow and figure out missing scenes. Yes,
I have the outline on Scrivener index cards, but reading the pages in order
helps me gauge the flow better than skipping around in a Word document.

As I’m working through hard-copy edits (and even while I’m
typing the story the first time through), I keep a notepad nearby where I list page
numbers and threads that will need to be readdressed in the story.

Have you ever read a book where a thread wasn’t closed? I
remember a novel I read years ago where a specific element was a key part of the character’s knot. She struggled,
sought advice, and worried. We spent a lot of pages, a lot of words, on that element. But when she actually faced the situation, the
writer glossed over it, leaving it off screen and never following up. I felt cheated, as if the editors and author
didn’t give readers credit or didn’t consider the reader’s response. There we
readers were, immersed in the story, and then we were denied what we’d been reading
to see. The hook became a betrayal.

In sewing, if you don’t tie off your threads, you risk the
fabric coming apart. In writing, you risk losing reader loyalty. Generally, you satisfy readers by tying off those threads and tracking them will help you do
that.

Now,
that’s not to say you need to tie everything up in a neat bow. Sometimes writers leave
threads incomplete because that treatment is more true to life. You get to
decide how you address the threads you introduce. Just remember, the more time you spend on something, the more your readers will expect you to revisit that thread later.

I’ve
heard some mentors recommend highlighting various threads
by subject throughout the story in order to track them. I like that idea and have used
it before, on hard copy. *wink*

What
techniques do you use to track your story threads? Are some threads easier for
you to track? Do you print your manuscripts at or near completion in order to
edit them?

Whoever heard of a bookish cowboy? When Logan
McDaniel’s brother-in-law dies, he steps in to help his beloved sister run her
ranch. But what does a city boy know of herding cattle? Claire Langley loved
her cousin. After he dies, she agrees to serve as a temporary nanny for two
heartbroken children.

Claire and Logan find they share a love of books, and
Claire can’t resist the nerdy uncle who is great with children, and who reads
to her of pirate romance. Claire’s ailing mother needs her in Seattle. Can she
break away? And if she does, can there ever be a future for Logan and her?

4 comments:

Good article, Annette. One of my biggest fears is leaving a thread unfinished (and calling a character by the wrong name, which I have done.) Yes, I print my manuscript, more than once throughout the process of writing it. Since I'm a perfectionist wannabe, I tend to edit as I go, so when I think I have a few chapters the way I want them, I'll sometimes print and reread. If I'm having trouble with a particular scene I'm writing, I'll print that as well. I never write rough drafts with paper and pen like some of my author friends, because I love the backspace, copy and paste, and delete keys far too much. :)

Thanks, Linda. I agree--there is a great convenience using the computer. I can be as wordy as I want to, until it's time to edit. ;) And rearranging is much easier. Sometimes my hard copies end up covered in arrows. Happy writing (and editing)!